Svalbard Seed Vault Flooding

Melting Permafrost Floods Svalbard Seed Vault

By Carl Kruse

On Friday, March 19, a stream of nervous reports warned that water had entered the doomsday seed
repository known as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Temporary panic ensued because Svalbard is
humanitys last line of defense against a major catastrophe or doomsday situation that might imperil
our ability to produce food. The facility stores a wide variety of crop seeds almost 1 million
varieties and is designed to be self-sustaining and survive a range of disasters.

What apparently happened Friday was that warmer than normal temperatures melted some of the ice
near the entrance to the vault, sending melted water rushing in. While none of the seeds were ever in
danger, the incident exposed a design flaw in that higher temperatures could have gushed even more
water in, possibly reaching and damaging the seeds.
A facility constructed deep in the Norwegian permafrost and designed to be self-sustaining now has
to be watched around the clock to ensure that no other water damage takes place.

The advisory group Statsbygg, which plays a key role in managing the vault, is reportedly planning
improvements to the entrance and outer tunnel at Svalbard to prevent similar incidents from
happening in the future. These improvements include drains on the sides of the entrance to better
disperse melted water, and water-tight barriers inside the main tunnel to contain water that did get
through. Closer monitoring of temperature and permafrost conditions at Svalbard will apparently take
place as well.

As the whole planet warms, including Svalbard, ensuring that the vault is better protected from water
is likely to become more important. When the vault was built its designers took into account,
geologic stability, humidity, level above sea, access and other factors but apparently not the
possibility permafrost near the entrance could melt in sufficient quantity to pose a flooding danger to
the facility.

Svalbard is such a beautiful initiative and I have high hopes this slight flaw in an otherwise
magnificent facility will be corrected, and humanitys seeds will be protected for ages to come.

Carl Kruse

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Carl Kruse